Wednesday

The navy warmup tops worn by the Knoxville High School girls basketball team read “banners are earned not given.”

The navy warmup tops worn by the Knoxville High School girls basketball team read “banners are earned not given.”

And on Monday night the Blue Bullets looked like a squad on the way to postseason hardware.

Knoxville easily handled Farmington 68-26 in Prairieland Conference North Division action and the victory was keyed by the Bullets’ full-court press.

Knoxville (9-0) held a 24-4 lead over Farmington after the first quarter and was up 43-12 at the intermission thanks to it.

The Bullets forced the Farmers (4-3) into committing 22 turnovers in the first half.

“The defense is definitely our greatest offense overall because once we get out in that 13 press and we get turnover after turnover it just leads to quick easy baskets,” said Knoxville junior Shelby Shreeves, who came off the bench to score 15 points. “It gets our offense going and their defense out of rotation. It just starts the whole game for us.

“I think defense is a big key but also it’s nice because we have so many people who can score. If they double team one person then someone else who can score is open. Ultimately, we can’t be stopped that way I don’t think.”

The Bullets have a goal of holding their foes to under 35 points an affair and they’ve done that for the most part.

“Last week at South Fulton, we gave up 40 points and that’s the most we’ve given up all year but other than that we’ve held everybody under 30 points for the most part,” Knoxville coach Dean Axcell said. “Tonight our defense was really good. Our press worked really well and we shot the ball well so it makes everything look good, too.”

Knoxville staked its lead to 62-20 heading into the fourth quarter.

“I thought Farmington would have handled (our press) a little better but I’m glad they didn’t,” Axcell said. “The girls love playing that and it gets them in the flow and playing hard.”

Farmington coach Jim Noonan wasn’t content with what the Farmers did on the defensive end against the Bullets.

“If you would have asked me two hours ago, I was pretty happy with where we were,” said the third-year coach. “I don’t think we are on the same caliber as Knoxville right now and I think that’s pretty obvious to anyone who watched this game. We have been fighting, scratching and playing pretty good defense up to this point and that’s why I’m frustrated.

“I’m not surprised we came in here and had an issue against their zone trap. They’re so good at it and we are still trying to find our way offensively a little bit.

“We didn’t come out and have a lot of fight tonight. Sometimes you’re the bat and sometimes you’re the ball and tonight we were definitely the ball.”